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| 20.07.1927-12.07.1999 |
After struggling through the previous two posts, I felt that I should let my blog fall into a decline yet again, and was wondering what I could write about that wouldn’t tax me too much. So, looking through my drafts and half-finished posts, I thought I could do a post on Sunl Dutt songs, and began compiling my favourite solos of the actor. It was only when I was halfway through the post that I realised I was a month too late – the actor’s birthday was in June. I was back to square one. Then I realised that there was yet another actor whose birthday was coming up, and soon. Rajendra Kumar. He's not one of my favourite actors, but I must be in the minority, since the actor held sway over countless hearts in his heyday.
Born in Sialkot (in present-day Pakistan), Rajendra Kumar's father was a successful textiles businessman. However, during Partition, the family had to leave all their land and property behind to start anew in India.
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| Dilip Kumar and Rajendra Kumar in Jogan |
Kumar joined the industry as an assistant director to HS Rawail for several years before his mentor cast him in a small role in Patanga (1949). The next year, he played the role of Dilip Kumar’s friend in Kidar Sharma’s Jogan (1950). Though actively dissuaded from pursuing an acting career, Kumar persisted while continuing to work as an AD. His first major role came in Vachan (1955), five years later, acting as Geeta Bali’s younger brother, followed by an important part in Toofan aur Diya that same year.
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| Sunil Dutt, Nargis and Rajendra Kumar in Mother India |
Mother India (1957) was Kumar’s breakout film – its success set him firmly on the path to stardom. In 1959, he delivered three back-to-back hits – Goonj Uthhi Shehnaaii, Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan and Dhool ka Phool. This became such a regular occurrence that he was soon referred to by the sobriquet ‘Jubilee Kumar’.
For
the better part of the 60s, Kumar was the uncrowned king of the box office
until the Rajesh Khanna tsunami swept the industry. Though he continued to act
in moderately successful films for the next decade, he saw the writing on the
wall. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he had shrewdly invested his earnings not
just in producing films, but out of the film industry as well.
Kumar also had the reputation of being one of the most genuine people in the industry.
Today,
on what would have been his 98th birthday, here’s a compilation of some of my
favourite solos picturised on the actor.
Mere mehboob tujhe
Mere Mehboob (1963)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Naushad
Lyrics:
Shakeel Badayuni
It’s
not a conceit that would pass muster today, of a young man Anwar (Rajendra
Kumar) who falls in love at first sight – with a woman he doesn’t even see
properly. They bump into each other accidentally, but because she’s wearing a
burqa, all he notices are her eyes behind the veil, and the marble-whiteness of
her hands as she reaches out to pick up her books. What’s worse – it is the
last day of college, and he might never know who this woman is, or where to
find her.
Yaad hai mujhko meri umr ki pehli woh ghadi
Tere aankhon se koi jaam piya thha maine
Meri rag rag mein koi barq si lehraaii thhi
Jab tere marmari haathon ko chhuaa thha maine
Please,
he says, please come forward and reveal yourself to me, for that’s the only
solace to my lonely heart.
Saamne
aa ke zara pardah uthhaa do rukh se
Ek
yahi mera ilaaj-e-gham-e-tanhaii hai
Teri
furkat ne pareshaan kiya hai mujhko
Ab
to mil jaa ke meri jaan pe ban aaii hai
Dil
ko bhooli hui yaadon ka sahaara de de
Mera
khoya hua rangeen nazaara de de…
Anwar's eyes search vainly for the woman he's lost his heart to, among of the sea of veils befor him, and Husna (Sadhana) cannot help but respond to that emotional appeal.
Rafi’s voice is filled with yearning; Kumar’s earnestness and Sadhana’s beauty make the scenario plausible, even if it requires a suspension of disbelief in this more cynical age.
Ae nargis-e-mastana
Arzoo (1965)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Hasrat Jaipuri
Sadhana
and Rajendra Kumar again, this time in a more modern, more conventional love
story. Gopal (Kumar) is visiting Kashmir alone (his friend, Ramesh – Feroz Khan
– having been sent off to take care of some business matters by his hard-hearted
father), and has a few run-ins with a young woman, Usha (Sadhana) who seems to
have a penchant for taking offence at the slightest cause. However, Gopal’s indifference
to her piques her interest enough to visit Gulmarg when she learns he’s going
there.
By the time he sets her ankle (she’s sprained it in an accident and he’s just become a doctor), she’s well on her way to falling in love with him. I suppose Rafi’s dulcet voice and lyrics that liken her to a carefree narcissus had something to do with it.
Teri
pyaari pyaari soorat ko
Sasural
(1961)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Hasrat Jaipuri
Unlike
most songs of praise, this song does not compare the heroine to the moon and
the stars. Instead, he says, her beauty is such that even the moon envies her.
Ek jhalak jo paata hai, raahi wohi ruk jaata hai
Dekh ke tera roop salona chaand bhi sar ko jhukaata hai
She’s not safe from his gaze, nor from hers:
Dekha na karo tum aaina, Kahin khud ki nazar na lage
Chashm-e-buddoor
Kumar is no Shammi Kapoor, but he has an earnest appeal to him that holds him in good stead in romantic songs.
p.s. I was just going through the post before uploading it when I heard that B Saroja Devi passed away (14 July). The prolific actress-producer was a very successful heroine in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, and made her debut in Hindi cinema with Paigham (1959).
Chehre pe giri zulfein
Suraj (1966)
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Hasrat Jaipuri
This
song made it to the list only because of the way Rafi sings ‘Gustaakhi maaf’.
(And everything is forgiven – where Rafi is concerned!) Even though he's apologising for his ‘gustakhi’,
the man is obnoxiously persistent in ‘wooing’ a very unwilling young woman
(Vyjayanthimala).
Despite her very evident displeasure at his stalking, he continues to enumerate the things he’s willing to do if she would only let him – move the strand of hair from her face, place a flower in her braid, light the lamp of love in her heart, speak his heart’s desire, tear open his heart to show her how much he loves her… And though she does not give in right away (she pushes him into the river), she’s more than falling in love with him. (“Why? She asks plaintively.)
Kaun
hai jo sapnon mein aaya
Jhuk
Gaya Aasmaan
(1968)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Anand Bakshi
Sanjay
(Kumar), a tourist guide, and Priya (Saira Banu), a visitor, meet and fall in
love (after a series of incidents, one involving a cupboard) when Priya is
summoned home urgently. She begs Sanjay to get her to the airport and the
latter drives like a maniac to get her there. Then, relieved, Sanjay heads back
to Darjeeling, singing this song (and, Lesson No: 1 in how not to drive).
Of course, the inevitable happens. Want to know what happens next? Watch Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan or the original Here Comes Mr Jordan from which it was adapted.
This
is a campy choice, I know, but when I was in college, Sudeep, a junior and a
dear friend, had made it his signature song. Whether he was in love with a
young woman named Priya is a matter of conjecture, but hey, what better way
than to woo her with a song addressed to her?
Khuda
bhi aasmaan se
Dharti
(1970)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Rajinder Krishan
Another
song in praise of the beloved. This time, it is Waheeda Rehman (whose very-bad wig does her no favours).
Khuda
bhi aasmaan se jab zameen par dekhta hoga
Mere
mehboob ko kisne banaaya sochta hoga
Both
Kumar and Waheeda were a bit too old for their roles, but in this song, they made
their relationship believable.Remade
from the Tamil film Sivandha Mann (Red Earth), the plot harkened
back to the time when the British, the Portuguese, the French and the Dutch
were all fighting proxy wars to increase their influence over India.
Aaj
ki raat ye kaisi raat
Aman (1967)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Shailendra
This
is a little-known song from a little-known film. But it is a lovely one,
interspersed with Saira’s dialogues.
Aman, set during the Second
World War, talked about the horrors of atomic radiation and nuclear disarmament;
its pacifist theme is an anachronism today, where every emotion, including
patriotism, is dialled in at high pitch.
Aman had one of Kumar’s finest performances as an actor. (Watch him in the father-son confrontation scene with Balraj Sahni.) Dr Gautam (Kumar), a London-educated doctor, decides to travel to Japan to find a cure for the survivors of the atomic blast that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. En route, he finds love with Meloda (Saira Banu), a Japanese woman.
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| Rajendra Kumar
with Bertrand Russel in Aman Photo Credit: Emkay Pictures |
Dil mera ek aas ka panchhi
Aas
ka Panchhi (1961)
Singer:
Subir Sen
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Hasrat Jaipuri
This
ebullient song is one of my favourites. Kumar plays Rajan Khanna, a young man
who aspires to join the military. At present, he’s an NCC cadet, who’s just graduating
from college. As he cycles through the cantonment, he cannot help but sing of
his hopes and dreams, of the heights he hopes to soar, of a new dawn that he
hopes to witness… it is, after all, the world of the young and their
aspirations.
Ye duniya hai naujawaanon ki
Ye zamaana naujawaanon ka
Hawaayein bhi gungunaati hai
Taraana hum naujawaanon ka
Badlega ek din ye hasti
Chamkega ek din muqaddar
Aayega jhoomta savera
Jeevan mein Roshni ko lekar
Nothing can stop them, he avers; as long as they have a breath in their body, they will live in hope.
For a change, Kumar’s singing voice is not Mohammed Rafi, but Subir Sen.
Husnwale tera jawaab nahin
Gharana (1961)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Ravi
Lyrics:
Shakeel Badayuni
Usha
(Asha Parekh) and Kamal (Kumar) have, after an initial tu-tu main-main
in the park, fallen in love with each other. One day, Usha, a gifted artist, is
painting a portrait of her beloved when she begins to daydream of him. It helps
that in her daydream, Kamal is singing paeans to her loveliness. It is all very
poetic (and sublime, in Rafi’s voice):
Teri
aankhon mein aisi masti hai
Jaise
chhalke hue ho paimaane
Tere
hothon pe woh khaamoshi hai
Jaise
bikhre hue ho afsaane
Teri
zulfon ki aise rangat hai
Jaisi
kaali ghata bahaaron mein…
Yahaan koi nahin tera mere siva
Dil
Ek Mandir (1963)
Singer:
Mohammed Rafi
Music:
Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics:
Hasrat Jaipuri
Dharmesh
(Kumar) and Sita (Meena Kumari) had been in love before circumstances
intervened to prevent their marriage. Now, Sita’s husband, Ram (Raj Kumar) has
been admitted to Dr Dharmesh’s hospital. When Sita expresses her concern that Dharmesh
might not treat Ram because of her past relationship with Dharmesh, the latter
is determined to save Ram. As he slogs day and night to ensure the best
treatment for his patient, he’s tormented by memories of happier times – when he
and Sita were in love, and there was nary a cloud on their horizon. A time when
all he wanted was to take care of Sita and solve all her problems…
Teri mann ki uljhane suljhaana chaahta hoon
Tujhe aaj se apni main banana chaahti hoon
Mann ke suhaana mandir mein bithaana chaahti hoon…
Yaad na jaaye beete dinon ka is yet another song that traverses the roads of memories past, but in a much sadder vein. Though it is the more well-known song, I love this number for its promise of togetherness and support, and the vein of happiness… so few in this bleak film.
Like many other actors of the period, Kumar's success was partly due to Rafi's singing voice. The singer-actor duo have given countless hit songs that surely paved the way for the films' success at the box office. At a conservative estimate, Rafi sang more than 150 songs for the actor.
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| Courtesy: Instagram - bollywoodtriviapic |
Yet, Kumar's success as an actor and a star cannot be laid solely at Rafi's feet; whether one is a fan or not, Rajendra Kumar was one of the most successful stars of Hindi cinema, and his contribution to the industry cannot be minimised. In 2013, the Government of India honoured the actor with a postage stamp.
Are you a Rajendra Kumar fan? What songs of his do you like? Let me know in the comments below.
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